Andrew Paul is Popular Science's staff writer primarily focused on tech news. Previously, he was a regular contributor to The A.V. Club and Input, and has had recent work featured by Rolling Stone, Fangoria, GQ, Slate, NBC, as well as McSweeney's Internet Tendency. He lives outside Indianapolis.
ArticleBody:On May 18, 1980, the eruption of Mount St. Helens emitted 1.5 million metric tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere while its pyroclastic lava flow incinerated virtually everything within a 230-square-mile radius. Three years later, wildlife experts enlisted a team of local helpers for just 24 hours to speed up the area’s environmental recovery. But these weren’t human volunteers—they were gophers.
“They’re often considered pests, but we thought they would take old soil, move it to the surface, and that would be where recovery would occur,” explained Allen. The team hoped the animals could particularly help within bringing to the surface vital, fertilizing microorganisms such as endosymbiotic rhizobial bacteria and Mycorrhizal fungi.
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